Black Dog Classic Motorcycles
Now to the mudguards, as I said previously, the base of the front guard had been butchered with tin snips, (I would have loved to know, why?) This guard still had its supplier’s brass plate, riveted to the front. MARSTON, BRIDGE STREET, CHESTER. I had written to Mike Leatherdale earlier for a copy of the record card, he confirmed that this was the only Brough to be dispatched from the works to Marstons. (I wonder if the shop is still there). The front guard is one of the small number of parts to be farmed out, most of the work being done by myself in order to keep costs down. The guard was sent to ace tinsmith, Dave Clarke, he having an original guard, to use as a copy for the missing flap.
The rear guard was to be shot blasted, after all the stays; brackets and the hinge were removed. The Demon drillers holes were welded up, filled with braze, then cut back. A new hinge was fitted and bolted to the frame, under the oil tank. Two of Mike Smith’s toolboxes were purchased. A rear tyre was fitted to the wheel, and the wheel positioned mid way in the frame slots. Now, the hard bit! The rear guard has to follow the 400x19 tyre, all the way round, the toolboxes being fitted at this stage. The tops of the toolboxes have then to follow the shape of the mudguard! It is easier to make stays to go round the toolboxes, than to make toolboxes go round the stays. You also have to make sure the rear stand clips into its clamp; this is on the hinged part of the rear guard, without flexing. I probably spent twice as many hours on this job as I had estimated. Dave Clarke had made a first class job of the front guard. This fitted round the tyre with no problems. The original front stand was used; the front stays having to be tweaked a little. New headlamp stays were constructed, using the twisted originals as patterns. This was all fitted; the seat and tank rested in place, stand back, and was my grafting worth it!
Now for my first mistake, a big one!
I next fitted the cast aluminium primary chain cases to the frame brackets, without the Norton clutch fitted to the gearbox shaft! I then fitted and shaped the rear chain guards around the end of the primary cases. I did not find out these cases were wrong, until I had, had them powder coated, cut them back and two packed them for a good finish! Later, as I was to find out, they would not fit over the clutch without rubbing, more on this further on. As stated earlier, the Terry saddle was not wide enough, so I cut and widened its frame, using a borrowed saddle as a pattern. One point I did notice, the saddle is as wide as the petrol tank! The handlebars (Amal tidy bars) were fitted, and here I found that one and a half inches had been cut off the left hand end. Maybe to clear a sidecar, was suggested to me, which sounded feasible. I welded a piece on and cut the slot for the twist grip slider.
Both twist grips and the levers, complete with new pivots, were made up in Stainless Steel and fitted at this stage, making sure that the levers pulled up square to the bars. Again I dared not count the hours spent on just this job.
The rear brake pivot points were well worn, with a lot of slop on the pedal, not surprising really as they just pivot on the engine plates alone. Not very good engineering practice, I have seen better jobs on Francis Barnett, 150 cc. I can’t believe they came out of Nottingham like this!
An easy cure, was to make new spacers to fit over the unworn parts of the pedal shaft, then braze the spacers to the engine plates, this gives longer pivot bearings. Another job easily solved. The only thing left of the dry build, was the exhaust system, I spent hours on the exhaust, getting all the angles right. An ill fitted exhaust can ruin a good restoration, to do this properly you need the mag/dynamo and drive cases, kick start, front and rear foot rests fitted. I had ordered a set of pipes and silencer, un-chromed, a good job really, as I had to put three bends in the rear pipe and five in the front.
Points to note, were, plenty of room for the mag/dynamo to slide up and down in its slots, clearance on the inside back of the magneto chain case, both pipes to enter the silencer at the same angle and the silencer to be level with the rear foot rest, when it was folded back. Kick start and rider foot rests must have clearance around the pipes, also, fit the aluminium silencer at this stage and cut down the pipe if it is too long. The aluminium can look out of place if the silencer tail pipe is too long. At this point tighten the silencer to the frame, make up two, exhaust pipe to engine plate brackets, and weld into place.
Stand back and admire.
Copyright © Black Dog Classic Motorcycles 2001